Dive Brief:
- Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports magazine, is urging policymakers to update rules that govern campus banking.
- A study by the magazine of campus banking products from nine financial firms found that some had fee structures that created significant annual costs — more than $250 — for students who used their banking cards frequently.
- The study also found variations in fee structures and a lack of transparency for campus banking products, which raises the concern that some colleges and universities are doing a poor job in negotiating campus banking agreements.
Dive Insight:
Consumers Union has a list of specific recommendations for the U.S. Department of Education, Congress, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They include banning revenue sharing between schools and financial institutions, updating regulations on financial aid disbursement options and requiring campus banking contracts to be collected in a publicly accessible database where they can be analyzed.